


Six of One, Half Dozen of Another

by Lady Divine (fhartz91)



Series: Outside Edge [53]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blaine Friendly, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Figure skaters, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Valentine's Day, mention of Blaine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-26 00:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18272408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fhartz91/pseuds/Lady%20Divine
Summary: Kurt and Sebastian are back home from college in time for Valentine's Day. Neither of them are particularly fond of the holiday, but they manage to find some common ground....Or common ice.





	Six of One, Half Dozen of Another

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for Valentine's. It's a little late.

“Ugh … just … _ugh_ …” Sebastian groans - the fiftieth time since he and Kurt left the Westerville rink. Kurt shakes his head but he can’t stop smiling, riding high on the euphoria of three hours spent chaperoning the rink’s annual Valentine’s Social – a 50s themed hop on ice. The rink pulls out all the stops for Valentine’s Day: renting a jukebox, putting up old time-y soda shop décor, dressing the staff in leather jackets and poodle skirts, and so on. But the highlight of the makeover (as far as Kurt’s concerned) is the gigantic red heart painted mid-ice - a place where brave souls can bring their crushes to confess their feelings.

People have even been known to propose there.

Kurt has never been a big fan of Valentine’s Day, but he _is_ a sucker for romance.

Call him a silly romantic, but yeah.

Sebastian makes a noise that sounds like another long, sustained ‘ _ugggggggh’_ , and Kurt snickers.

“What’s going on with you? I thought you had fun tonight.”

“I did,” Sebastian says, “but only because I got to spend it with you.”

“Well, _that’s_ a relief.”

“I don’t particularly like Valentine’s Day,” Sebastian grumbles, pausing at a corner, then making a right.

“I know.”

“And neither do you.”

“I know that, too.”

“So why do _you_ get to be all high and mighty?”

“Because unlike _you_ , I can look past the cheap chocolates and the obnoxious red hearts and appreciate the _romance_ … the love … the _drama_.”

“Yeah” - Sebastian snorts - “because that’s what we need more of down at the rink. _Drama_.”

“When did you turn into such a big fuddy-duddy? Admit it - you love drama as much as I do.”

“True, but there’s a difference between the catty bull crap we usually fling around and purposefully setting people up to fail.”

“Ah.” Kurt nods, watching the stop light they’re approaching change colors from amber to red. “Let me guess … it was that big heart on the ice.”

“Yes, it was that big heart on the ice! First of all, I can’t imagine the amount of money the rink spends every year to paint it there, and then layer _how much_ ice over it? It’s going to be there for _months_!”

“You _do_ realize it’s tradition.” Kurt interjects. “It’s actually there for Heart Disease Awareness month. The proceeds from tonight’s ticket sales are going to the American Heart Association.”

“I _guess_ …” Sebastian seethes, and Kurt knows he forgot. “Okay, fine. It’s for a good cause. Yippee. Still, what happens when those new relationships break up? What if those proposals don’t work out? Our regulars are going to be forced to come back to the rink and see that big red sign of _failure_ just sitting under there! If it were me, I’d practice at my own rink to avoid it. We might have actually driven business away without even knowing it!” Sebastian glances over at Kurt pulling a face and frowns. “I take it you don’t agree.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t.”

“Don’t you think it’s kind of tacky? Making a big display like that? Getting down on your knee in front of a bunch of strangers to profess your so-called undying love?”

“I guess so. But, when you think about it, Valentine’s Day isn’t meant to be subtle. It’s supposed to be over the top.”

“It still sucks,” Sebastian mutters, thrumming his fingers on the steering wheel as he waits for the light to change.

“Oh, Sebby,” Kurt coos, placing a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder and kneading. “I didn’t know how deeply you cared about the love lives of strangers.”

“I don’t.” Sebastian’s signature sarcastic smile makes a brief, fleeting appearance before he stares off into the distance, purposefully avoiding Kurt’s playful gaze. “But I know what it’s like to make a grand gesture … and have it rejected.”

“Oh. _Oh_. Oh, Sebastian …” Kurt falls quiet, the atmosphere in the car going from one of lighthearted teasing to guilt with the changing of the street lights. Sebastian isn’t talking about Kurt. They had their fights in the beginning, but once Kurt knew he mattered to Sebastian, he stopped fighting and opened his heart to him. It’s his parents Sebastian is referring to. He worked hard over the years to make them proud, and when gold medals and first place podiums started becoming the status quo, he worked even harder to get their attention. So many routines he’d choreographed in dedication to his parents just for the meaning to go over their heads.

Or for them not to show up at all.

Kurt hears Sebastian sniff but that could be from the cold. If he doesn’t bring it up, Kurt will leave it there. Sebastian glances over his shoulder to check for clearance before changing lanes, and when he turns back, he has his smirk fixed in place as if it had never left.

“Meh. You live, you learn. Ancient history.”

“I guess so.”  Kurt watches Sebastian and not the road as silence brings him back to the handful of times he’s gotten to meet Sebastian’s parents. It’s strange, and difficult, being around the three of them together. In front of Kurt (and Kurt imagines, in front of other people in general) they act like regular, doting parents, joking with their son about him having a boyfriend and asking them both questions about their plans for the future. But there’s something else about them, something underneath the good-natured teasing and pleasant conversation.

Like they’re playing a part, reciting the lines required before they get to pack up their things and fly away again.

Which makes the thought of them going back to Sebastian’s house tonight an unpalatable one. His folks are there, on layover before they return to a gala in Italy they swore up and down is for work. And Kurt has no doubt it is.

That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the right thing for them to do.

Kurt foresees a mildly uncomfortable dinner in their future, and that dampens his romance-fueled buzz. But at least this time, Kurt and Sebastian are only visiting, too – on break from college for a week, mostly to celebrate the anniversary of Kurt’s mom’s remission.

Kurt turns his attention back to the windshield when the road they’re driving winds. The dark outside gets darker, and Kurt realizes Sebastian isn’t taking him to the main house on his parents’ property, but to his rink instead. “Uh, Seb?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“Why are we here? We just skated for _three hours_. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to getting out of these pants. They’re a wee bit snug.”

“That’s a phrase I never thought I’d hear you say.”

“And I hadn’t planned on eating two dozen baby cupcakes, but nonetheless, here we are.”

Sebastian pulls up alongside the outer wall and turns off the engine. “As much as I want to see you out of those tight jeans, I actually planned something for tonight. Something kind of special.”

“You did?”

Sebastian side-eyes his skeptical boyfriend. “Are you surprised?”

“May-be. You’ve spent so much time griping, I thought you might just want to forget doing something as a couple on Valentine’s Day.”

“Are you kidding? Any excuse to get you dressed up and alone …”

“You know, coming from anyone else that would sound creepy.”

“Well, thank goodness I’m not anyone else.” Sebastian opens his door and gets out, closing it quickly behind him when a cold wind blows through. He tromps through the snow, rounding the rear of the vehicle to get to Kurt’s door. “Come on,” he says, opening the door and offering Kurt his arm, “let’s get inside and out of this cold.”

“It’s kind of ironic that it’s warmer _inside_ an ice rink than out here.”

“Yeah. Too bad climate change doesn’t exist.”

“We live on the ice. We’ll be alright.”

Sebastian ushers Kurt to the door, playfully putting a hand over his eyes when he leads his boyfriend inside. Kurt hears Sebastian switch on the lights … or maybe switch them off. From what he can see past what Sebastian’s hand doesn’t cover, the switch he threw has done little to change the illumination of the room. He can’t see much else past that, but closes his eyes regardless so as not to ruin Sebastian’s surprise.

Sebastian barely has to help Kurt. He knows his way around Sebastian’s rink by heart. He knows from the start that they’re heading for the ice. But if they’re not skating, why in the world would they be there?

“Okay.” Sebastian adjusts his boyfriend’s stance, then readjusts him several times to get him in the right position. Or to mess with him. That’s a possibility, too. “Now … look.”

Sebastian removes his hand from Kurt’s eyes. Kurt blinks them once. It doesn’t take much to adjust to the light in here. He thought he knew what he would see when Sebastian took his hand away but he was wrong. Sebastian’s rink is impressive all on its own, but what he has created takes Kurt’s breath away.

Sebastian kept the twinkle lights up from Christmas. When Kurt had asked Sebastian why he hadn’t taken them down when he took down the tree, he said he liked the ambiance. Kurt should have known something was up then.

Sebastian and ambiance aren’t two words oft heard in the same sentence.

But sometime between the last time Kurt was there (which was that afternoon) and tonight, he’s hung red, pink, and gold foil hearts all around – on the walls and dangling from the ceiling. But when did he get the time? Kurt was seriously with him every minute of that day. Is it possible he actually got _Blaine,_ who’d taken off from school to join them, to help him? Otherwise Kurt has no idea how he could have pulled it off! And if he did humble himself to asking Kurt’s best friend, who Sebastian still jokes that he doesn’t particularly like, to help him decorate for Kurt, that makes Kurt love Sebastian all the more.

Electric candles line the rails of the rink; red and pink rose petals scattered around; and soft, romantic music piped through the overhead speakers; while lazy golden lights drift across the ice, courtesy of an upgrade to the overhead spotlight system. Those lights dance over the piece de resistance - a king-sized bed sitting center ice in the middle of a large, red mat, with a red carpet walkway leading straight to Kurt’s feet.

It looks like the cover of a Harlequin Romance novel. And as cheesy as that is, Kurt can’t help but swoon just a little.

Again – silly romantic.

“So … _this_ doesn’t count as over-the-top?” Kurt laughs as Sebastian takes his hands and leads him down the red carpet towards the bed. It’s then that Kurt spots their Zuca bags, standing side by side at the head, just in case they want to get some after nookie skating in, Kurt guesses.

An image of them post-coitus, trying to land jumps and perform scratch spins on shaky legs, makes him laugh harder.

“Nope. Because you and I are certifiably in love. And this …” Sebastian glances over at the bed behind them, covered in satin blankets, a mound of pillows, a bouquet of long stemmed roses, plus a silver tray crowded with strawberries, a dish of cream, and a bottle of sparkling cider, kept chill by the icy air of Sebastian’s rink “… this counts as the bare minimum.”


End file.
